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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sue Miller's World,
By
This review is from: The World Below (Hardcover)
I was lucky enough to get this book at the library before it hits the bestseller lists. I predict it will. I can also see it as a movie. Sue Miller explores the past and present, drawing parallels with the modern day Cath and her grandmother, Georgia. When Cath discovers her grandmother's diary, she is compelled to read it and fill in the blanks of her life. Learning from Georgia's past mistakes and also seeing how much alike their lives were, Cath comes to a deeper understanding of her own life. The allegorical submerged town under the lake illustrates poignantly the themes of the story. This well researched tale explores a part of history little known till now-the TB epidemic and life in the "sans". A compelling story, with many layers.
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Ya Gotta have a Point of View!,
By
This review is from: The World Below (Hardcover)
I suppose that many will take Sue Miller's "The World Below" as a quiet, subdued examination of the lives of two women: Georgia and her grand daughter, Catherine....and leave it at that. And unfortunately, except for some well written passages it is...just that. But having just read Leif Enger's "Peace like a River" and Joyce Carol Oates'"Middle Age," I can't let Miller off the hook so easily. What these two novels have that Miller's work doesn't is a point of view, a substantial world view that would give "The World Below" some pizazz, some oomph...something to take you beyond the bare bones of the storyline.The basic story of "The World Below" is somewhat interesting: a woman, Catherine Hubbard, is willed her grandmother's house and she, needing a change of venue after two failed relationships , decides to visit this home in Vermont. While there, Catherine discovers a cache of her grandmother's journals. The novel then becomes the story of these two women and the narrative moves back and forth between these two lives. And this is a good thing because the "Georgia" portions of this novel are the most interesting and provocative as they relate Georgia's stay in a TB sanitarium and her subsequent marriage to her much older doctor and the problems inherent therein. Miller can write beautifully when so inclined: "The thick flakes coming out of the dark at the windshield, the steady shuddering slap of the wipers, the vehicles looming ahead of me on the road--all this was hypnotic...the flakes landed silently on the car and melted with the engine's heat..light that fell into the yard and made the steadily falling snow seem thicker and heavier than it was." In "The World Below," Miller spends her time and efforts on the exposition of this story...propelling the novel forward. But where's the attutude? Where's the interpretation of these words to make it all more substantial and therefore more personal, interesting and multi-layered? In the past, Miller has proven to have the skills to make her words sing not only in our heads but in our hearts and souls. Unfortunately, "The World Below" is not an example of this.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A dazzling story,
By
This review is from: The World Below (Hardcover)
This is a wonderful story between two women at different periods in time. The first one, Georgia was sent to a sanatorium for her TB and found love there. The second one, Kathy, her granddaughter, comes to find peace within her own life as she learns more about her grandmother's life. Kathy, the daughter of a woman who has committed suicide when Kathy was only 15, have searched for acceptance and love ever since. Her grandmother was the only one who could provide it. And Georgia full of secrets herself tried to pass on wisdom to her granddaughter.It is a wonderfully written story ~~ one that is slow to move in the beginning but once you get immersed into the story, it does pick up. Georgia is an interesting woman taken away from the security of her home where she has been taking care of her sister, brother and father after her mother's death ~~ and began a long process to adulthood. She finds love twice and learned much from it. Kathy's story parallels her grandmother. She too lost her mother at about the same age Georgia did. And she has loved twice ~~ only to lose them through divorce. And she finds redemption in being a grandmother to a premature baby, Jessie, who fought for her life for months. In that fight, Kathy comes to realize that life is indeed a gift, no matter how bad the blows were dealt. It is an interesting book ~~ one that I am glad to have won in a contest. It is not my favorite book of the year, but it is a really good read. 3/4/02
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